Dive buoys and flags are important safety devices used to warn boaters that divers are in that area of the water so that they may be alert for the divers or preferably to stay clear of the area. In some jurisdictions use of dive flags is required by law. The dive flag must be large enough and displayed high enough to be seen by boaters from at least about 100 yards distance.
Dive buoys also need an "anchor" line (sometimes called a buoy line) that may be played out from or taken back in to a storage device such as a reel or spool at the diver's option.
A dry storage compartment in the dive buoy can often eliminate numerous trips back to the diver's base often a boat or shore location.
U. S. Pat. No. 3,827,093 issued Aug. 23, 1974 to T. S. Davis discloses a spherical float having a circumferential groove in which the buoy line is stored. The wound line is covered and held within by means of an encircling band which acts as an unwinding break. During the course of the dive it is often desirable to re-spool portions of the buoy line to compensate for decreased depths. With this type of buoy it is impossible to re-spool the line to eliminate excess slack without returning to the surface. This represents a significant inconvenience since such frequent trips back and forth to the water surface decrease the diver's bottom time and, in fact, are potentially hazardous. Furthermore, there is no allowance for the required dive marker flag or a stabilizing depending counterweight assembly. Any addition of such required flag assemblies is precluded by the requirement of this dive buoy design that the line spool be in a vertical position to properly unwind.
U. S. Pat. No. 3,037,217 issued June 1962 to Mandra discloses a dive buoy structure comprising a spherical float with an integrated circumferential line spool about which the dive buoy line is stored. The line is retained on the spool by a resistive clip whose force must be overcome for each turn of line unspooled. With this type of buoy also, the diver is required to return to the surface to re-spool excess buoy line. It appears impossible to add the required dive flag assembly because the design of the buoy requires that the line spool be in a vertical position.
In U. S. Pat. No. 4,781,636 issued Nov. 1, 1988 to T. Schurr a portable marine buoy is disclosed wherein a marker flag and depending weight assembly are included with an integrated line spool. This type of buoy is not generally used by individual divers due to the anchor-type deployment. In most cases scuba divers clip the free end of the buoy line to their equipment and, in this case, they would still be required to return to the surface to make any adjustments in the length of the deployed buoy line.
U. S. Pat. No. 4,238,864 issued Dec. 16, 1980 to G. Kealoha integrates the concepts of a dive buoy line spool and dry storage compartment. In this design the line is retained on the spool by a pressure clip and the line is dispensed by overcoming the pressure clips retaining force. A dive flag structure is omitted. To add a dive flag to such a buoy appears impractical as the design of the buoy line spool requires it to be in a vertical position. If a protruding dive flag and corresponding stabilizing depending counterweight assembly were added, the line spool would be flipped into a horizontal position. In this position if force is applied to the buoy line in an attempt to overcome the resistive force of the retaining clip, the force would flip the flag assembly 90.degree. into the water each time the diver attempts to deploy a length of line.